The 'I Hate Weddings' Club
by Flames101
Summary: It's summer, the season for weddings; & JJ and Emily just aren't in the mood. The man JJ loves is oblivious to her feelings, not to mention taken by one of her old school friends. The man Emily is smitten with is avoiding her like the plague. Both in love, both scorned, the two remain steadfast in their feelings against matrimonial bliss, honorary memb. of the I hate weddings club.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey all. Here's a new one from me (though, I so should not be adding another to my long list, lol). It's written for the CCOAC forum's Wedding Bell's challenge. My two featured characters are Emily and JJ (friendship). My three prompts are: wedding veil, wedding vows, and a congratulatory toast. The inspiration for this story came to me a few days ago when I heard Usher's "You Make Me Wanna" song. So that should give you an idea of what this story is about. Right now, I have no idea how long this story is going to be, but I have a feeling it's going to be a long one. So, I hope you enjoy and that you'll let me know what you think. Thanks!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Criminal Minds.

**Chapter 1:**

* * *

JJ peered through the thick crowd of merrymakers on the dance floor, all of them ecstatic, all of them the opposite of her. The sight was hard to stomach so, instead, she turned in her chair to face some very pretty trees.

She wondered, blandly, what there was to be so happy about. _A wedding? Big freaking deal,_ she thought to herself, annoyed. _Weddings come and go and so does the happiness…_ She was proof of that, for sure.

Downing the remaining contents of her glass of bubbly champagne, she wished for something harder to dull the surrounding cheerfulness. The waiter's making their rounds weren't carrying any whiskey or scotch, unfortunately.

The first notes of Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' began and JJ curled her nose in distaste at the overused song. She'd need more alcohol to get her through this one. Her eyes scanned for one of the dressed in black waiters, desperately needing to drown out the cliché words. The second one passed by, she snatched up another glass and gulped it down, not bothering to sip; the situation was now that dire.

"Can I let you in on a little secret?"

JJ turned to her right to see Emily Prentiss, her partner in misery, glaring out at the crowds. "Shoot," she replied nonchalantly.

"I absolutely despise weddings," she confided vehemently.

JJ chuckled. "Join the club."

They let out a shared groan of commiseration, just as the bride and groom practically floated past them on their matching cloud nine's right onto the dance floor.

She had to admit, Jordan Todd—Anderson, now—made a beautiful bride. Her sheath of a dress skimmed her perfectly. And the head to toe lacy white veil was gorgeous, a classic look. Anderson looked equally as handsome in his dark tux. They were the perfect couple, with the perfect wedding vows, and a perfect stupid wedding.

JJ secretly envied their happiness, their perfection, not that she'd ever admit it to anyone.

The truth of the matter was that marriage just wasn't for her. She'd tried it and failed, quite dramatically, actually. And now Will was long gone, back in New Orleans. The only contact she now had with him was when they coordinated Henry's visits. And that was painful enough.

"Guys!" Garcia suddenly popped out of nowhere, frightening her momentarily. "Come on, everyone's joining in. Let's dance."

She was clinging possessively to Kevin's arm, practically cutting off his circulation. He tried giving them a smile, but it was more of a grimace. JJ would have to remind her best friend that she'd have to ease up on the poor guy. Yes, she'd won him back, but she'd never really lost him in the first place.

"Sorry, Garcia," Emily answered for the both of them. "Not everyone has got a go-to fiancé to dance with."

"Besides," JJ added helpfully, "dancing sucks."

The technical analyst frowned at the both of them unhappily. She opened her mouth to protest but Kevin tugged on her arm first. "Come on, muffin-cakes, the songs almost over…"

As soon as they were out of earshot, JJ made mock gagging noises, and said incredulously, "Muffin-cakes?"

Emily tugged the glass of champagne from her friend's hand, chuckling. "Ok, I am cutting you off. You sound like me." JJ gave her a glare before dissolving into giggles, a sure sign of her tipsy-ness. "Anyways, it's not PG's fault that she found love and we're going to die two old maids'… not that there's anything wrong with that."

JJ let out a sigh, staring off into the distance. "I _did_ find love, only he doesn't know it yet."

She followed the blonde's gaze, knowing what she'd find at the end of it, even before she looked. Aaron Hotchner, their Unit Chief. The object of her best friend's affections.

After returning from England to find JJ husbandless, Emily figured out that her best friend's marriage ended because of Will's growing insecurities over JJ's feelings for Hotch. He hadn't been wrong. JJ was so in love with the man it wasn't even funny. Too bad, though, that about a month before calling it quits, JJ had made the mistake of setting up the stoic man with one of her old high school friends, Ivy Sullivan, in an effort to save her marriage.

Now, six months later, the pair were still together and it was hurting JJ something fierce. Especially since she'd also become Hotch's confidante in all things personal.

Emily told her time and again to extricate herself from the relationship. That listening to Hotch go on and on about how great Ivy was wasn't healthy. But she wouldn't listen. Claimed that any Hotch in her life was better than no Hotch even if it _was_ killing her. But Emily knew exactly how difficult walking away could be. After all, she'd tried and failed miserably at it herself.

"If I could turn back time…" she said wistfully, averting her gaze a second later.

Emily caught the pain in her friend's blue eyes, the tears glistening there. She needed to take JJ home; the woman wouldn't thank her later if anyone besides her noticed her deep melancholy.

Just as she was about to suggest just that, she caught sight of her own source of heartache. There was Derek Morgan, strutting his stuff on the dance floor with some girl about half his age.

Her eyes, she was sure, mirrored JJ's just then.

"Aww, Em, I'm sorry. Here I am going on and on about myself when you're in the same boat as me…"

JJ gave the brunette's shoulder a squeeze. She couldn't believe how self-absorbed she was being. Emily's predicament was every bit as awful as her own. Except Morgan was aware of Emily's feelings for him and claimed that he just didn't return them.

_Doesn't return them, my ass,_ JJ thought crudely. She had no idea what exactly Derek's problem was but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he had feelings for the senior profiler. Had them for a while now. It was an absolute mystery to JJ why he would deny them now.

JJ watched, a bystander, as Derek's gaze met her friend's before Emily could mask the obvious pain there. There was a brief flicker of unmistakable emotion on the Chicago-native's face, one, that reassured JJ of her earlier convictions. But, all too quickly, his face hardened and he went back to dancing with the floozy, basically ignoring Emily.

Emily's face crumpled to dangerous levels. She was on the verge of major tears. JJ felt her agony so acutely; maybe it was because they were in similar situations, both wanting a man they couldn't have.

Quickly, she slung an arm around the brunette's shoulders squeezing tightly. "Come on, Em. Let's get out of here, ok…"

Emily threw her a grateful smile, though on the watery side, but a smile nonetheless. "Thanks for being my date, JJ."

"You're welcome." She smiled back. "Same time, next week?"

Because, of course, this was only the beginning of the parade of summer weddings to come. And the team was a part of or invited to all of them. They'd tough them out as the two sole members of the 'I Hate Weddings Club'.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed; let me know what you think. Thanks. Hopefully, more to come soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hey all! So sorry for the wait. Anyways, I've got sort of a plan for this one. I'll be interchanging the chapters between JJ focused and Emily focused, with a combined Emily/JJ wedding focused chapter interspersed every so often. With that, I think I'll be changing the pairing filter each time I update to reflect who the current chapter is about. This chapter will be a JJ focused one. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Criminal Minds.

**Chapter 2:**

* * *

JJ slid a heavy box back on the high shelf as she teetered unsteadily on the three-step-up footstool she was using. She reached for the next box over, sneezing twice as dust flew up in the air. Pulling at another box, she had to turn it to see its label, which was an awkward move to do in three-inch heels.

She was searching for some of her old case notes for the Smith case—Benjamin Smith, 42, accused of serially killing three women all in their twenties; that much she could remember. JJ would be leaving in a week for Seattle where she was charged with testifying against Smith. She wanted her notes to refresh her memory; the case was almost a year old.

Unfortunately, according to Garcia, that particular file was currently unavailable to them electronically, due to something or other. JJ had to confess, when it came to technical talk she tuned it all out and only asked 'does it work?'

Under normal circumstances she hated this kind of thing. She much preferred the catching of a un-sub to the prosecuting of them. However, once in a while one or two of the team was tasked with this responsibility. This time around it happened to be her and Rossi's turn.

Finally getting the box turned around, she cursed out loud when it didn't turn out to be the right one.

"Having trouble?" a voice said from behind.

Startled, JJ turned to see who had snuck up on her, only too late realizing that she was three feet off the ground. She let out a girly scream as her arms flailed to grab onto the shelves before her with not much luck.

_She was going fall. She was so going to fall! And it was going to hurt!_

"Whoa," came that voice once again. "Easy there."

Along with the voice came a pair of hands; steady, solid hands caught her up about the waist, holding her there, perched on the stepping stool.

It took her more than a second to process what had almost occurred. _She was going to fall… She was about to fall… but, she hadn't? Someone had saved her…_

Blinking her blue eyes once, twice, she finally focused long enough to see that someone had indeed saved her. And that someone was looking upon her with a mixture of concern and amusement on his face.

"Hotch!" she exclaimed.

The amusement won out, he grinned at her blatantly. "Hi."

It was then she fully took in the position she was in. Not only were his large hands firmly around her waist, but she realized that she _had_ gained purchase to stop herself from falling. Hotch's broad shoulders, she had a death grip on them.

"Oh," she breathed out. "I should… I should uh… _oh—_"

JJ gasped in surprise when he lifted her effortlessly up into the air and placed her feet back on the ground.

"You ok?" he asked worriedly when she wobbled.

"Yeah… uh… yeah…"

_Jeez, JJ, get a grip!_ That's when she remembered that she did have one; she was still holding onto him. She pried her hands from his body, letting them hang limply by her side. "I'm fine."

His dark eyes ran across her face, searching for any sign of untruth, before meeting her gaze. His eyes held such warmth, she felt herself heat up under his stare, ready to melt into a puddle.

"Hmm… maybe you should go home. You seem to be in shock."

She flushed scarlet at his assessment. "I am not!" she scolded.

He chuckled. "There she is! Back with us now?" She attempted to glare at him, but failed miserably. She smiled back at him, and she didn't think it was her imagination when his own smile turned up another watt or two.

Hotch let go of her then and the loss of his touch was almost unbearable. He moved past her, climbing the small footstool. She frowned at his back, wondering what he was doing, before her eyes involuntarily made contact with his butt. She couldn't help it, it was right there, before her.

_Man, he's got a nice ass,_ she thought to herself. Her head tilted to the side as she continued to appreciate his assets. _Suit pants, jeans he looks firm in anything…_ The sound of scraping jarred her back to reality_. Oh man, JJ, snap out of it. You are so sexually harassing your boss right now!_

"JJ?" Hotch asked quizzically.

Once again, she jumped, only to see him just looking over his shoulder, or so she hoped. Staring up at him guiltily, she figured if he'd caught her ogling his body he wasn't letting on. "Yeah…" she answered, trying for an unaffected tone.

He raised an eyebrow at her. She'd clearly missed something. "I asked, what are you doing in here, but you didn't hear me. Maybe you _are_ in shock."

"_Aaron_," she warned him, not wanting to start that up again.

"Ok, ok… _So?_" he added pointedly.

"Oh, I was searching for my case notes for the Smith case, you know, for next week."

He grimaced, clearly remembering the case. He turned back around and then came down with a box. "I think this is the one."

Setting it down before them, a quick glance told her that it was undeniably the correct box. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

"You're welcome."

JJ was taken aback when Hotch was suddenly crouched on the ground before her. She glanced down to see that he had opened the box and was now rifling through it.

"Uh… what are you doing?" she asked dumbly.

"I'm looking for my case notes to the Smith case," he answered.

_His case notes?_

"Why?"

Hotch straightened up, a look of surprise on his face. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

He sighed. "I'm going in Dave's place. Erin felt that with the wedding just around the corner that she couldn't spare him unless absolutely necessary."

JJ's mouth dropped open right after his first sentence. They'd be going away together!

"I know, that was Ivy's reaction too. She's not very happy that I'll be away most of next week with little contact."

_Ivy!_ How could she forget his girlfriend? Especially after she'd been the one to stupidly introduce them to each other.

"She does understand about your job, doesn't she? Our work is pretty important," she gritted out, barely containing her animosity towards the woman.

She liked Ivy, she really did. She wouldn't call her a friend if she didn't. The girl had moved from Texas to their town when they were just beginning middle school. That was right after her sister had passed. For a long time, Ivy was one of the only people who had treated her normally. It had been refreshing having her as a friend. Sadly, they'd drifted after high school, but had reconnected about a year ago, just when her marriage to Will began to crumble.

The thing about Ivy was she was the complete opposite to JJ. Where JJ was strong-willed, spoke her mind, and outgoing, Ivy was a people-pleaser, content to let others have the last word, and a lot quieter than JJ. In a word, she'd describe her as gentle and in comparison she always came out coarse.

They even looked different. Ivy had Mediterranean coloring, dark hair, and eyes. Dark to her light.

"Oh, she's starting to, believe me." He grimaced. There was more to this story, she could tell. She'd get him to open up a little more, later. "Anyways, at least I'll be going with my favorite profiler."

His tone had become so affectionate suddenly it hurt. Just who was this person who had claim to that title?

"Who?" she said indignantly.

"JJ, it's you," he stated, chuckling.

"Oh," she said sheepishly, just before it hit her. She was his favorite profiler. She was just happy to be his favorite anything.

_You're his _best_ friend,_ a voice in her head reminded her. _Well, aside from Rossi…_

_That's just not the same,_ she despaired.

Hotch replaced the box on the shelf after finding their two files and then came to stand before her. She did not expect him to do what he did next. His cool, callused hand pressed gently to her forehead. "Hmm…" he murmured.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" she said, exasperatedly, trying to bat his hand away.

"You _do_ feel a little warm. Maybe you should go home and rest. Wouldn't want to miss tonight…" he chided gently.

She smiled brightly at the mention of their movie date that night. Ok, not their date, but the kids'. They'd gotten to spending a night a week together, just the four of them, watching movies and having dinner. They were currently on a Disney movie kick; tonight's movie was Aladdin. Still, even if they met with the kids' in mind she still greatly treasured the time together. If she lost herself in the moment, she could just pretend that they really were a family.

"I'm fine. And I'll be there. Henry's been looking forward to it all week," she assured.

"That's great." He always got a fond sort of expression at the mention of her son. Hotch loved him, she was sure. He included Henry whenever possible; she'd be forever grateful to him for that. He was like a second father to her son.

"Hotch, I hope you know how much Henry appreciates you and Jack." _How much I appreciate _and_ love you and Jack…_

He threw her a kind, heartwarming smile. "I do. We enjoy his company immensely, JJ."

She frowned a bit. She'd hoped for a little more, something along the lines of: "He's the second son I've always wanted. And hey we should get married and make that official…"

_Ok, now she was being delusional._

"Speaking of tonight…" he started slowly, as he lightly put a hand to the small of her back and began guiding her out of the room. "I hope you don't mind, I invited Ivy to join us."

JJ was glad that they'd started back and that she was staring straight ahead. She was sure all the blood had drained from her face. She felt sick to her stomach all of the sudden.

"JJ?"

_Say something!_ "Oh, uh… that's great! I can't wait!"

Reaching the bullpen area, she just couldn't take a minute more of his company. How could she love him so much and he be so oblivious? It hurt. It hurt way too much. She spotted her desk, her lifeline, across the way.

"You know what," she said hurriedly. "I've got a lot of work to finish before tonight. See you later."

She rushed from his side as quickly as humanly possible without actually running. Running would tip him off that she was upset. More than upset. She didn't want him to know that his happiness made her want to cry. It was supremely selfish on her part.

Dropping into her chair, the churning in her stomach hadn't subsided. Luckily, there was only one person to notice her unceremonious arrival.

"JJ?" Emily said in alarm.

She looked up into her best friend's pale face and couldn't fake it anymore. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Bathroom," Emily announced authoritatively.

"No." She shook her head violently. "I don't want him to see."

Emily looked over her shoulder, a grim look settled upon her. "What happened?"

"Ivy _happened_," she practically sobbed.

She couldn't hold it anymore. Emily came swiftly to the rescue. She grabbed a case file and came to stand at JJ's right, effectively covering her from Hotch's view. For good measure, Emily opened the file in front of her face. She began to point and talk loudly, JJ's cue to let loose if she needed to.

Fortunately, she managed to contain it to more than a few sniffles and just a few tears. She wiped at her eyes with the tissues Emily had surreptitiously handed her.

"Ready?" Emily asked after a bit.

"Yeah," JJ confirmed.

She dropped the case file back onto the desk but didn't move away. Emily looked down at her in concern. She opened her mouth to speak, but JJ already knew what she was going to say.

"I know… I know… I just can't get him out of my head," JJ murmured sadly.

Her best friend did the right thing then. Emily retook her seat at her desk and let her be. JJ just needed a few moments of quiet to ponder what she was going to do.

_What was she going to do?_ As the days went by, Ivy would become more and more involved in Hotch's life and JJ, she was sure, would be phased out with every passing moment.

What would she do when she became irrelevant in the life of the man-she-loved?

* * *

That's it for this one. I hope you enjoyed the mix of a bit of humor and angst. Next chapter will be Emily/Morgan. I hope to have that one up soon.

Oh and I'm completely ignoring the Replicator nonsense in this story. Season 8 happened, just not with that crappy ending. So yeah, Alex exists in this story (who says there can only be two women profilers on the team at one time? Not me.).

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and to those who reviewed the first chapter: **jekkah; Guest** _(Resistance is Futile is next on my updating list);_ **Sarahgirl12384; red2013; canny-bairn; SuzySorrowLess; RealMe07** _(definitely will be coming up in the next chapter); _**rmlawson78; jhplug; and Pielmorena**.

Thanks again!


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